Porlock

For lovers of literature, Porlock will have a hollow ring - it was a "man from Porlock" who famously interrupted Coleridge's opium dream and broke the spell of Xanadu. The town also has more than a walk-on part in the novel Lorna Doone.

Porlock itself is a delightful place, one of the prettiest along the Somerset coast. With its old thatched houses, quaint main street and the broad bounds of Exmoor hedging it in, it's a real picturesque village.

The tiny harbour of Porlock Weir, just a couple of miles away, was the old, busy port, which traded with Wales across the Bristol Channel. The coast is beautiful and it is worth exploring - a stroll to tiny St Culborne Church is well worth it.